In recent years, adoption of metal material to which antibacterial property, anti-mold property or anti-alga property is given has been investigated not only for applications in the food processing industry and the medical industry but also for diary necessities in order to block the growth of bacteria, mold, algae and so on from the viewpoint of hygiene.
The present inventors suggested metal materials caused to have antibacterial property, anti-mold property and anti-alga property (JP-A No. 11-343592 and JP-A No. 2000-198709). These metal materials (members) are made mainly of Ni, and are materials comprising, on the surface thereof, a coating in which P, Co, H and so on are controlled. The antibacterial property, anti-mold property, and anti-alga property thereof, and the persistence of these properties are better than those of conventional anti-fungus members.
However, in the above-mentioned members, the surface coating is caused to have such functions as antibacterial effect, anti-mold property effect and anti-alga effect; therefore, there may be cases in which other required properties (for example, hardness, discoloration resistance, fingerprint adhesion resistance, color tone, glossiness, corrosion resistance, scratch resistance, and so on) based on the structure of the surface cannot be sufficiently satisfied.
In light of the above-mentioned situations, the present invention has been made. An object thereof is to provide a member to which not only functions of suppressing the propagation of at least one of bacteria, mold or algae but also other functions based on the structure of its surface are given; and a production process thereof.